#which is very similar but comes across as less... definitive? if that makes sense?

[itscuntingseason]

i've read the wotakoi manga about 20 times and watched the anime only twice in its entirety (excluding reaction channels), so every time i remember a wotakoi anime scene that wasn't actually in the manga it feels like a glitch in the multiverse

[hollowed-theory-hall]

Hogwarts Robes (From Quotes)

So, I decided as a sequel to this post and as part of my (and @wisteria-lodge's who I talked to about this) quest to understand wizard fashion, I collected all quotes referring to their school robes (and some that don't, but have implications™️ about their robes) to once and for all have the most definitive, book-canon image I could make for their school robes.

(Quidditch robes will be coming at a later date)

They aren't worn with trousers

I previously established that Hogwarts robes don't seem to be worn with trousers. Snape, Harry, and Ron are all implied to not be wearing trousers under their robes, along with everyone else:

James whirled about; a second flash of light later, Snape was hanging upside down in the air, his robes falling over his head to reveal skinny, pallid legs and a pair of graying underpants.

(OotP)

He got up and pulled on his jeans because he didn’t want to walk into the station in his wizard’s robes — he’d change on the train.

(PS)

Everybody except Harry was riotously happy and talkative as they changed out of their robes into jeans and sweatshirts

(OotP)

Below the robes, there will be a long undershirt/shift and modern underwear (explained in more detail in the post linked above).

The length

Hogwarts robes are long. They billow around the student's feet:

He [Percy] had already changed into his billowing black Hogwarts robes

(PS)

Their robes billowed and swirled around them as they splashed across the flooded vegetable patch to double Herbology

(OotP)

And cover your shoes, and are floor length:

Ron’s showing much too much ankle in his school robes

(HBP) - said by Molly.

Ron’s were a bit short for him, you could see his sneakers underneath them.

(PS)

Harry got to his feet, trod on the hem of his robes, and stumbled slightly.

(GoF)

It means students need to get used to moving in a floor-length garment and not step over the hems constantly — which is probably a struggle for first-year muggleborns.

(The scene where Harry stepped on his robes is when he's called up as a Triwizard Champion — so in a moment of high stress, he might step on his robes)

(Another note, not all robes are floor length. Dumbledore is often described as wearing "full-length wizard robes", meaning they are floor-length, but some characters have robes that leave their shoes visible for Harry to describe)

The collar

Hogwarts robes are cut similarly to some men's dress robes. This makes sense, the way school uniforms are formal-looking and a person unfamiliar with the culture could think a dress suit and a school uniform look similar.

In some trepidation, Harry opened the last parcel on his camp bed. It wasn’t as bad as he had expected, however; his dress robes didn’t have any lace on them at all — in fact, they were more or less the same as his school ones, except that they were bottle green instead of black.

(GoF)

We know robes come in different cuts and not all are considered "dress robes" and it isn't just a matter of color & fabric (though it is that too. Dress robes tend to come in nicer fabrics such as velvet. (Dumbledore is practically always wearing dress robes)):

Like her father, Luna was wearing bright yellow robes, which she had accessorized with a large sunflower in her hair. Once you got over the brightness of it all, the general effect was quite pleasant. At least there were no radishes dangling from her ears. […] “You look smart. I told Daddy most people would probably wear dress robes, but he believes you ought to wear sun colors to a wedding, for luck, you know.”

(DH)

Pansy Parkinson in very frilly robes of pale pink was clutching Malfoy’s arm.

(GoF)

There was just no getting around the fact that his robes looked more like a dress than anything else. In a desperate attempt to make them look more manly, he used a Severing Charm on the ruff and cuffs. It worked fairly well; at least he was now lace-free, although he hadn’t done a very neat job, and the edges still looked depressingly frayed as the boys set off downstairs.

(GoF)

“Yes, my tiara sets off the whole thing nicely,” said Auntie Muriel in a rather carrying whisper. “But I must say, Ginevra’s dress is far too low-cut.”

(DH)

And we know, thanks to Draco, a high collar on a black robe is considered formal dress robes cut for men:

Malfoy was in front; he was wearing dress robes of black velvet with a high collar, which in Harry’s opinion made him look like a vicar.

(GoF)

And Hogwarts robes have a similarly high collar that keeps it's shape:

Turning up the collars of their robes against the chilly September air

(OotP)

This collar is wide enough to be pulled on like a dress over their heads:

Madam Malkin stood Harry on a stool next to him, slipped a long robe over his head, and began to pin it to the right length.

(PS)

And for Hermione and Marriatta to hide their faces in:

They heard the lock slide back and Hermione emerged, sobbing, her robes pulled up over her head

(CoS)

and Marietta gave a wail and pulled the neck of her robes right up to her eyes

(OotP)

But it still needs to keep its form (as mentioned before).

We know there are no buttons, since Harry mentions buttons on other outfits, but not on his school robes:

“Now then,” said Slughorn, returning to the front of the class and inflating his already bulging chest so that the buttons on his waistcoat threatened to burst off

(HBP)

The beaded bag containing all of their possessions (apart from the Horcrux, which Harry was wearing around his neck) was tucked into an inside pocket of Hermione’s buttoned-up coat. 

(DH)

Nor do they have laces, since Harry would probably mention fiddling with them or tugging on them if they were there.

So I concluded the collar is held in place by a single small metal hook/clasp like this:

That is swen onto the robes themselves.

The belt

The billowing, loose-fitted robe is held in place with a sturdy belt:

Harry tucked the sword and the Sorting Hat into his belt, Ron took hold of the back of Harry’s robes

(CoS)

That can hold wands, swords, etc, easily.

This belt is the only thing that gives the robes their shape, as the only things that Madam Malkin seems to be tailoring/adjusting are the sleeves' hems and the length of the garment:

Madam Malkin stood Harry on a stool next to him, slipped a long robe over his head, and began to pin it to the right length.

(PS)

So, there is a lot of access fabric, and the robes aren't tailored to the body. They are barely tailored at all, which explains why all students are expected to get them; they are very simple, very simple garments.

The Pockets

Their school robes come with multiple large pockets. They are either actually big, or they are enchanted to make them big, as when Harry is wearing his school robes, he puts everything in his robes' pockets.

His wand:

Harry took off his black school robes, removed his wand from his pocket

(GoF)

Choclate Frogs:

Harry felt in the pocket of his robes and pulled out a Chocolate Frog, the very last one from the box Hermione had given him for Christmas. He gave it to Neville, who looked as though he might cry.

(PS)

His knife:

“Sirius’s knife!” said Harry, and he pulled it out from inside his robes and slid it into the crack between the door and the wall.

(OotP)

The Mauraders Map:

“Mischief managed!” The map went blank at once. He folded it carefully, tucked it inside his robes

(PoA)

He folded the map and tucked it inside his robes. 

(PoA)

And even the Invisibility Cloak on occasion:

There was a knock on the door. Harry hastily stuffed the Marauder’s Map and the Invisibility Cloak into his pocket.

(PoA)

The pockets have a lot of space.

And there are multiple pockets per robe (it seems):

“No idea,” said Harry. But Ron was examining Harry’s robes. All the pockets were hanging out.

(CoS)

The Sleeves

Contrary to popular interpretations, the sleeves are not wide, as they can be rolled up or pushed up to their elbows, and they stay there:

Harry felt a lurch of fear. He wasn’t ready. How could you make a dementor less frightening? But he didn’t want to ask for more time; everyone else was nodding and rolling up their sleeves. […] They all retreated, backed against the walls, leaving Neville alone beside the wardrobe. He looked pale and frightened, but he had pushed up the sleeves of his robes and was holding his wand ready.

(PoA)

Which implies they are tighter around the wrist at least, but not overall tight. As they are large enough for Ron to slip his wand into:

“Now, don’t forget, it’s Locomotor Mortis,” Hermione muttered as Ron slipped his wand up his sleeve.

(PS)

If the sleeves were very tight, Harry would mention it. He would also mention if the sleeves were particularly wide, which is why I think the sleeves look something like this:

Tighter around the wrist to allow pushing them up to the elbows or be rolled up, but wider above to make them look like a robe, but not super billowy, so they don't get in the way.

The color

Hogwarts robes are black:

pointed face was standing on a footstool while a second witch pinned up his long black robes.

(PS)

Harry took off his black school robes

(GoF)

Harry noticed that Ron kept moving his prefect’s badge around, first placing it on his bedside table, then putting it into his jeans pocket, then taking it out and laying it on his folded robes, as though to see the effect of the red on the black.

(OotP)

And they look the same for all houses. In the books, there is no house indicator on a person's robes beside their prefect badge if they have one or a scarf/rosette.

In PoA, when all the students are in identical sleeping bags, Harry can still tell the house and year of the speaker:

“It’s very lucky he picked tonight, you know,” said Hermione as they climbed fully dressed into their sleeping bags and propped themselves on their elbows to talk. “The one night we weren’t in the tower. . . .” “I reckon he’s lost track of time, being on the run,” said Ron. “Didn’t realize it was Halloween. Otherwise he’d have come burst- ing in here.” Hermione shuddered. All around them, people were asking one another the same question: “How did he get in?” “Maybe he knows how to Apparate,” said a Ravenclaw a few feet away. “Just appear out of thin air, you know.” “Disguised himself, probably,” said a Hufflepuff fifth year.

(PoA)

In CoS, Harry doesn't know Myrtle is a Ravenclaw; that information is from tertiary canon and not the books. This implies there is nothing on their robes to give them away.

Harry can tell who's from what house because he recognises students' faces/voices and knows what house they are in, not because their robes have a marking of their house — they don't. The fact that he tends to know other students years often, supports this:

The following day, two more girls asked him, a second year and (to his horror) a fifth year

(GoF)

“Hold it!” said Hermione, throwing out an arm and halting a passing fourth year, who was attempting to push past her with a lime-green disk clutched tightly in his hand.

(HBP)

He knows random students' year, not just house. He just recognises them because Hogwarts is a small school.

Shoes

They don't have school shoes. Shoes are not mentioned in the school supply list before first year. They wear socks with their shoes of choice:

He and Ron took off their jackets and pulled on their long black robes. Ron’s were a bit short for him, you could see his sneakers underneath them.

(PS)

narrowly missing Hermione, it burst at Harry’s feet, sending a wave of cold water over his sneakers into his socks. 

(GoF)

and laced up Goyle’s boatlike shoes.

(CoS)

Fabric

Since Hogwarts is in Scotland, where it is cold, the material is kind of important. We know the material is sturdy enough to hold the high collar in place (as mentioned above).

And we know it isn't silk and is warmer than that:

They were shivering, which was unsurprising, given that their robes seemed to be made of fine silk, and none of them were wearing cloaks. 

(GoF)

Though, not that warm:

The temperature dropped with every step they took. As Harry shivered and drew his robes tightly around him

(CoS)

(Nor does it seem to have warmign charms)

As Harry always puts on a cloak when he's cold.

My assumption is that Hogwarts robes are made of wool. Wool is a natural fibre that has been common for clothes since humans started making them, basically. It's great at insulation and regulating body temperature (both in warm and cold climates), breathable, and durable. It should be washed by hand, though, as they wash it with magic, it's probably alright. In addition, I believe they wear an undershirt/shift under their robes, which means there isn't skin contact and won't need to be washed often.

The cloak

The robes come with a black winter cloak:

4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)

(PS)

They have a high collar fastened with a silver clasp/pin:

their cloak collars turned up against the wind.

(OotP)

Yeah, Hogwarts cloaks have a high collar that can be turned up, not a hood. Harry mentions hooded cloaks a lot — Hogwarts robes/cloaks do not have hoods.

It has pockets like the robes:

"Hermione looked very cross indeed and stuffed her box of badges back into her cloak pocket."

(GoF)

It is long (floor-length) and billowy:

their socks and the hems of their cloaks soaked and freezing

(PoA)

Drawing their cloaks more closely around themselves

(GoF)

Hermione bundled up Crookshanks in her cloak

(GoF)

As Hermione keeps Crookshanks in it, and the hems reach the floor like the robes.

Other Accessories

They have Hogwarts house-themed accessories such as scarves, gloves and rosettes:

Three-quarters of the crowd was wearing scarlet rosettes, waving scarlet flags with the Gryffindor lion upon them

(PoA)

Hermione and Ginny sat down opposite them wearing red-and-gold scarves, gloves, and rosettes.

(OotP)

She [McGonagall] was wearing a Gryffindor scarf, but tore it from her throat with shaking hands as she strode toward them, looking livid.

(OotP)

walking down to the Quidditch pitch with Ron, Ginny, and the others. It was almost unbearable to turn away from the mass of students streaming out into the sunshine, all of them wearing rosettes and hats and brandishing banners and scarves

(HBP)

Students and professors both own these items. Maybe there is a shop in Hogsmead for them, though, I'm pretty sure some of them are homemade by students.

Prefect badges:

and Harry noticed a shiny red and gold badge on his chest with the letter P on it

(PS)

A large P was superimposed on the Gryffindor lion. He had seen a badge just like this on Percy’s chest on his very first day at Hogwarts.

(OotP)

A boy [Tom] of about sixteen entered, taking off his pointed hat. A silver prefect’s badge was glinting on his chest.

(CoS)

And Quidditch captain badges:

“Wow, I remember when Charlie wore one of these,” said Ron, examining the badge with glee. “Harry, this is so cool, you’re my Captain — if you let me back on the team, I suppose, ha ha. ...”

(HBP)

Along with any other jewellery or accessories, students make or buy for themselves. (Such as Luna's radish earrings or Parvati's butterfly hairpin)

The Hat

They have a pointed black wizard hat that comes with their uniform:

2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear

(PS)

They seem to be wearing it in the opening feast:

Through the forest of pointed black Hogwarts hats, Harry saw a long line of scared-looking first years filing into the Hall.

(CoS)

It was a sea of pointed black hats; each of the long House tables was lined with students, their faces glimmering by the light of thousands of candles, which were floating over the tables in midair.

(PoA)

But it is optional most of the time. Though we do see them wear it:

A boy [Tom] of about sixteen entered, taking off his pointed hat. A silver prefect’s badge was glinting on his chest.

(CoS)

“Maybe I’ll skive off Divination,” he said glumly as they stood again in the courtyard after lunch, the wind whipping at the hems of robes and brims of hats. 

(OotP)

So the hats are black, pointy, and have a brim (unlike the movie version we see). I headcanon that in British public school fashion, the hats are mandatory for the start of term and end of term feasts, along with a few other occasions and optional the rest of the time.

Aesthetics

AKA, the style - how does all of this come together?

Since Harry doesn't think the robes look like anything other than robes (not vicar robes like Draco's dress robes, nor a dress like Ron's dress robes) it means they look unmistaknly like something Harry would think of as wizard robes — which means they look like 1980s Hollywood wizard robes since this would be Harry's frame of reference. In general, the Wizarding World fashion seems to be 19th century, doing a Renaissance fair, if we want to give the style a name. Which leads to a garment that look like this:

For what Hogwarts robes probably actually look like in the books. Sleeves that widen out (though, not as much as the image, probably), a lot of fabric only kept in a shape thanks to a belt, reach the floor, collar held up by a single small metal hook — and wouldn't look like a dress to 11-year-old Harry, but like wizard robes.

And because I couldn't help myself, I took some old artwork of the golden trio and drew the robes and cloaks according to the aforementioned evidence on them like dress-up dolls:

(This is a quick sketch and the prefect badges aren't accurate to the books except for their color and the fact that they exist. Also, the cloak's collar is turned down, because it gives some flare to an otherwise not very interesting outfit and they did say "their cloak collars turned up against the wind", so I think it's canonically plausible)

[trulycertain]

On Dragon Age & Accents

(My unhelpful tuppence, as an English player.)

One small thing I wish had come up in Veilguard from previous games: the accent worldbuilding. It wasn't always consistent - DA:O only seemed to care about country or race, anyone non-human being generically North American and anyone human being mostly RP English unless they were Antivan; for regional accents, they seemed to purely use them for effect or go with VAs' natural ones. (There are about two bandit NPCs who seem to have badly-done Midlands English accents purely because they're not meant to be very bright; thanks, love Canadians reinforcing that stereotype. Anders being Lancashire seems to be pure coincidence because of his voice actor - you rarely ever hear the accent in any consistent way in other NPCs, and it's completely ignored in his very Southern DA2 recast.)

But by DA2, there seemed to be definite trends: Free Marches could be RP English or North American depending where you came from; dwarves tended to sound North American but there were exceptions for some people raised on the surface; elves tended to be either Welsh or Irish, which matches the "very old culture with a linguistically completely different root from Trade/English". Starkhaven is most definitely Scots.

And then DAI! DAI, my love.

DAI kept DA2's trends, while finally giving us more complexity and regional accents, albeit limitedly (and still with some inconsistencies). Finally, we have a (vaguely Germanic) Nevarran accent! And Miranda Raison did such careful work constructing it! The Avvar, Ferelden's mountain folk, sound Northern English. I'd hazard a guess that several sound Yorkshire, actually - this matches the whole "the Orlesians got up there less" lore in real terms; Northern England and Scotland, particularly Yorkshire, was under Viking rule longer than the South, which became Norman-conquered earlier, and there are subtle dialectal differences to this day. (Similar thing happened with the Celts and Romans, and the Avvar are blatantly Celtic and Pictish). There's a reason that RP ("neutral posh") English is Southern, from the seats of power. Cullen's from Honnleath, somewhere smaller and less Orlesianified, and while it's softened by the character's travel and the VA's own posher bents, there are moments the Northern English accent gets leaned into, a little similarity with the Avvar. It's a coincidence but it works so well, lore-wise. Sera's VA sounds... Derbyshire? I think? which is Midlands/Northern border and sounds more than Northern enough to keep a consistent Fereldan sound. And in terms of NPCs? A lot of Fereldan NPCs suddenly start turning up Northern, albeit less broad in their accents! Have a listen round the Crossroads. I remember Gaider mentioning Dorian wasn't originally meant to be Indian, they sealed it for sure when they cast Ramon Tikaram, at which point everyone went, "Yup, let's run with it", cast his dad accordingly, and Gaider figured that Dorian was either part of a pretty big migrant population (which, other than the Dorian Gray reference, the fact his name roughly means "from across the sea" also makes sense), or quite a lot of Tevene folk natively were. Considering Tevinter started as essentially "mage Rome" and morphed into, even according to the writers themselves, "mage Byzantium" and it's very close to Seheron, which I feel is North Africa/Middle East influenced - Tevene folk being akin to folk of Turkish, Middle Eastern, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan and Bengali backgrounds makes a ton of sense.

It is... exceedingly rare to hear working-class British accents in fantasy series at all (unless Brits make them, and then we're still often peasants or generic NPC #2, a la Origins). It is even rarer to have a fantasy series bother to keep immigrant accents and show the moulding of them through the generations. And I can only think of one other video game that has consciously cast British Asian actors, that's how rare it is even in games that supposedly care about representation - despite the fact that Asian folk make up something like 30% of our population.

Now: would I like some more background on why some accents in the Marches sound British and some don't? Yup! Would I have liked to have more regions in the elves' Irish accents and the dwarves' NA? Yup! But do those really matter? Nope! They would have been lovely icing on the cake, but the underlying cake was great. The plot didn't need it. It didn't have to be perfect, and the filtering of British culture through Canadians, and strategic anachronism? Those are things I love about Dragon Age. I loved how much they seemed to be trying and how much they were thinking about the lore. And I loved hearing a "British accent" that finally made sense to me, not played into the long attempts by toffs to stamp out everything North of London or outside England.

And then Veilguard sort of... forgot about it most of it? Adored that we could play as a Geordie! I really, really love them continuing pointed casting of folk with British Asian ancestry for several Tevinters (*waves lovingly at elek and neve*). But then... uh... look! Working-class Tevene people with generic Mancunian accents! To show they're working-class! That's fantastic progress... for Origins. But lore-wise, by DATV we've already shown that Manchester and Northern English accents live... *points at Ferelden* somewhere over there. We're back to "Tevinters mostly sound like generically evil English folk", as in DAO and bits of 2, which, sure, Dorian doesn't contradict - but then why not have everyone sound Southern, like him? Or add a different tint to it? And no, I am not saying everyone should put on bad "ethnic" accents, and I do appreciate the number of American, English and Mediterranean accents in Tevinter showing a very Roman "you're a citizen of the Imperium but you might have been born in one of its several countries" - but…

Gideon Emery's slight Afrikaans tint made a ton of sense with Fenris and what part of Tevinter he was meant to be from, even if it was unintentional; Jennifer Hale's take on Krem was going for English but came out more Aussie to my ear. Something like those could have been really interesting. But that also means that, including Fenris, we've now had several slaves with an accent that reads... quite posh, to English ears. Same with Neve, who is supposedly proudly from the shithole part of Minrathous, but she and several others have very RP "posh" accents (while others like Tarquin and Elek are Mancunian). Now, not everyone picks up their local accent! I am one of those people! I ended up cursedly plummy for a long time! But... we had hints through the series that Tevinter class markers would be very different from Fereldans', but they're now the same, for some reason?

Add that to the fact that they didn't want to make even one VA suffer through doing the Nevarran accent... See, it makes total sense for Emmrich, who's a posh professor who's done a lot of international study and would probably have learned Common as a second language with a very generic, "neutral" accent; he also was very concerned about appearances with his class background and trained himself not to give much away. And I'm sure the Mourn Watch has international students. But no Nevarran NPCs sound pointedly Nevarran? Not a one? Kal Sharok has hints of something interesting going on but it's rare, and the Anderfels is just... full of sad English and American-sounding people. Rivain is supposedly Caribbean and there are a bunch of actors of Caribbean descent they could've cast, but we only have one NPC sound even slightly so? That's when it stops being "Trade is taught with a neutral accent and there are a lot of Fereldan immigrants and slaves in Tevinter" and starts feeling handwavey.

Basically: I wouldn't mind if we'd gone with most fantasy games' "Eh, we cast broadly based on sound, stereotype or none of the above"; I'm very happy to just go with it. However, DAI told me to pay vague attention because the accents meant something. Then DATV has heel-turned and is telling me "Nah, go with it" the way Origins did. My ears are... confused, to say the least. And we're back to "'working-class' has one accent, and characters with something to say who aren't cast as stereotypically plucky underdogs are all Southern and posh", which just... makes me really sad. I don't hear people who sound like me, my family, or my friends growing up, in Dragon Age anymore. I did hear they had a different voice director in DATV, so maybe it's that?

[betterlivingindustriesss]

how not having a phone impacted my day-to-day, in case anyone's considered having a retro-style no-phone/flip phone summer:

social obligations:

less pressure to constantly respond to texts

unable to respond to texts sent on imessage

missing a lot of the cool apple features (gamepigeon, reacts, animations, stickers, etc)

need to keep several tabs open on the computer to monitor any urgent messages that might be sent over discord, Instagram, or email

can't use the Remind app or a lot of productivity apps because they're not available as a desktop version on locked Chromebooks

productivity:

I can't bring my phone to bed, I've started sleeping much earlier

my headaches have reduced since text on my laptop tends to be larger than text on my phone (and I can't read documents on my laptop in moving vehicles, which was also causing pretty bad headaches)

I don't think it's made TOO much of an impact on how I spend my time, but I have found myself scrolling on TikTok less because the swipe feature is so laggy on my Chromebook

quality of work:

as you might have noticed, the image quality on my blog tends to be very skewed. this is because I take half of my pictures through my desktop camera, and the other half through my DSLR.

a lot more intention behind everything I do (for example, when I post a picture on Tumblr, I need to pull out the DSLR, frame the picture nicely, transfer everything onto an old laptop with an SD reader, download to drive, then upload onto the app. I find myself planning my shots a lot more carefully and like to take several photos in one session)

overall state of mind

it definitely increased my personal satisfaction with my work and made me feel more accomplished

added workload for a lot of things I didn't even think about when I had a phone (again, taking pictures, transferring files, sharing things with people on the go)

I find myself unable to check the time or do tasks while walking across my school campus, which is frustrating when I need to write a note to myself

in a similar vein, I find myself thinking a lot more about how I will organize my time in the future or trying to recall concepts during short breaks where it doesn't make sense to pull out my laptop. this gets me into a productive mindset and I usually have a better time working on myself and having a positive outlook

people are constantly shocked that I don't have a phone. Many of my teachers have a "phone in the bin" policy for their classes, so they checked my bag pretty regularly in the early days because they were skeptical about the validity of my claim of not having a phone at all

i feel like I definitely had an addiction, and being able to get off of it was really helpful for my self-confidence and ability to overcome challenges

overall, I would really recommend at least trying to get off of your phone for like a week or two if you can! if it doesn't work for you, it doesn't work for you. If it works, it works. Giving it a shot probably wouldn't hurt imo. I'm honestly planning to just get myself a flip phone for emergencies because I really like the feeling of not having a guaranteed way to pass time and instead having to come up with things to do myself :D

[error404empathy]

Hi! I’ve been enjoying your blog and am happy to find another blog that can show some nuance for this whole situation.

I’ve been thinking and I would like your opinion on this as someone who works in pr.

I think what I find odd about this whole thing, especially with Nicola and J, is why the weird push? Pr stands for Public Relations so it’s about the image the celebrity projects to the public. Nicola’s pr has been phenomenal thus far and many people love her. She’s politically engaged, seems to like to uplift women, lgbtq folks and, all and all , the oppressed. It’s shown from what we hear from interviews, her social media and the shows she chooses to be part of. Like her being in the new season of I Am, which has a strong feminist tone and I am looking forward to seeing her in. Her fans follow her for her sweet heart, her great acting and beauty. She never came across as someone who makes men her entire personality. So that’s why J comes across as a stain on the portrait. I’m not saying that J is ruining her image (he doesn’t have that power), but I’m still thinking about when Nic posted this cryptic photo of her and him in that hotel room to her story and then followed by posting him in her Australia tourism photodump. When she posted that story, I thought it was odd, because I thought. Who is this for? She posted to her 6 million of followers, her fans. At first I thought, is it for the Jakolas? I don’t think so, because assessing the general consensus of the fandom, it’s either, they try not care and just mind their business and mostly ignore him (they’re the majority). The second part is Lukola with different degrees of investment and they don’t like him. And finally we have the Jakolas who quite frankly are a very very small portion of this fandom. So I don’t think we could say she posted this story for her fans and definitely not for the general public, because they don’t care. So all I’m left with, is that she posted it for brands. Rather we want to admit it or not, Nicola is an actress as well as an influencer. The Australia vacay was still an advertisement opportunity. So the portrait of just a girl enjoying her vacay and displaying her healthy relationships (whatever the nature of it is), I assume is definitely what brands would like. The Australia pics were literally an ad for Australia tourism. People “exploiting” their relationship for money is nothing new, but I just don’t think it suits Nic’s branding and even makes me question the validity of what I’m being presented with. I think another thing that makes it weird is how J has been presented to us. The countless pap pics, the weird social media tease, the amount of time she would post about his projects… It just felt like we were being fed an unwanted intruder. Like repeating what I said earlier. Nic’s persona has never been about men and suddenly I was being made aware of that guy. It felt weird. Then the cryptic Instagram story came out and I was even more in the blue, because I was thinking is this a public relationship? Is she trying to pivot to being a celebrity making her relationship a part of her lore? Then on J’s part, there’s the whole thing of him posting HER announcements before she gets the chance. He did it for the Bafta and even now. There’s overall a feeling of imbalance in which he definitely seems like he’s using her fame to make himself known. I feel like if they would have been less public about this “relationship”, I would have been more prone to believe in its veracity. To the point that I could even go as far as to say that they are not dating. I just don’t believe they are. From Nicola, I sense this weird wishy-washyness of both making him public, but at the same time not truly confirming anything. I could take those Australia pics as just friends hanging out. Friends hang out together in vacations all the time.

anon, thank you. genuinely. for the thoughtful ask. i’ve been thinking along similar lines, and you articulated it really well. so here’s my take: part PR lens, part late-night spiral.

i’m usually annoyingly cautious about this stuff. i don’t think the plan was ever to highlight the relationship that much. just some messy damage control after season 3 premiered. nic was giving interviews about how exhausting it is when women aren’t seen as separate from men. and then... came the rollout.

a soft confirmation. just enough to quiet the questions. the kind of thing you post so people stop asking why you’re still single at every family dinner. (except in her case, it’s for 6 million people. not just my mom.)

and yeah, it’s very her to support her friends. he did the same. in their circle, that kind of thing seems normal. but we don’t have to act like we’re watching a love story unfold.

the brand theory makes a lot of sense. the australia posts, the photodump pacing, the “organic” moments that read like recycled ad copy. influencer logic, dressed up as intimacy.

so maybe the goal wasn’t to sell a relationship. just to pitch a lifestyle. and the more i think about it, the more i’m convinced this story was never really meant for fans. (i know i’ve said that before. but it’s becoming my favorite theory.)

he never quite fit the narrative. just drifted into frame and stayed. and now everyone’s using the setup to their own advantage. maybe fair. maybe not.

not that it’s fake. but that they’re all trying too hard to make it feel real. maybe that’s why there are so many theories. none of them fully land, but each of them makes a little too much sense.

maybe the plot twist never existed. maybe we’re just watching a highlight reel of people keeping up appearances and calling it a story.

so here we are. overthinking the fourth repost of the same photo, waiting for a plot twist that was never in the script, and still hoping it’ll somehow make sense the next time.

[anyacad0]

Hi, I hope you’re well!! Do you have any favorite DH/DF-centric and/or renheng/xingyue fics you’d rec? I’ve consistently really enjoyed your interpretation of Dan Heng as a character, as well as your own writings on ao3, so I was wondering if you have any fic recs with similarly good characterization and storytelling :))

yes yes I have many recs

The Archivist's Familiar- ok so granted you have probably heard of this one before but it's so good I'm putting it here anyway. Great story, incredible worldbuilding. I'm not usually a fan of modern AUs but this one has magic which basically remedies every issue I have with the concept

From Somewhere Beyond The Clouds- another one you have definitely heard of but just in case! despite not being completely canon-compliant, this is the best retelling of the full story of the High Cloud Quintet that I've come across by far. All of them are characterised and explored very well. I think the characterisation for Dan Feng is slightly off- more pathetic than canon- but that makes perfect sense given the nature of the canon divergence.

Delinear Garden- I thought this one was niche but I just looked at the hits while getting the link. and. well. Still I'm putting it here because it made me cry on the first read through. I think this fic does wonders for Baiheng's character in particular.

ok and now on to the ones you are less likely to have already read

Talking To The Moon- no particular notes just bittersweet Yingxing/Dan Feng

finally i heard my name, the absolution called- not-quite-reconciled-but-no-longer-fighting-to-the-death Blade/Dan Heng is so interesting to explore because you can see that they both care and yet they're not quite sure how or whether they even want to. Also this author has a beautiful way with words, like they have the exact perfect adjective for every situation and I'm jealous of them

Talking About Hope- in a similar vein to the above one- very tentative interactions with lots of unexpected hope behind them, and beautiful wordplay. The dialogue isn't in quotation marks at first which can be a bit off-putting but there is a reason for it

new moon- okay so I am not sure how people feel about Dan Feng/Dan Heng. I can't exactly say I ship it, but it's fun to read, fun to write, and a fantastic tool for introspection. A bunch of fics change the relationship between them, making them separate people, but for me that kind of misses the point. This fic, however, explores them both very well

An Unexpected Encounter On The Luofu- Dan Heng caring for Blade when he still hasn't quite learned to be kind, but the simple fact that he's trying means so much

We've Been Here Before- an exploration of how close to home Amphoreus is for Dan Heng. I can't believe it's not been brought up in game yet that he doesn't just already know this story, he's lived it. Thank you fanfic authors

Black are the Waters that Sparkled so Green- Dan Heng learning to let himself be cared for ft. Dad Yang

a cowboy's brother-in-law- Boothill realises that Blade and Dan Heng are both pessimistic idiots and helps them also realise this fact

raft of medusa- I'm not sure why this feels as intimate as it does given the subject matter. But it has Blade and Dan Heng's dynamic perfectly down, the fact that really they do care but neither of them are quite ready or sure how to show it. The humour is also very good

Parallels- no particular notes, it's good and it made me cry so you should read it

Serendipity- I like how the author starts of with Yingxing completely out of his depth and then the second half is Dan Feng completely out of his depth. It really makes them feel like equals in a world that would never consider them as such

know that you will always find a home in me- Astral Express trio my beloveds. Super appreciate the March 7th exploration because I feel her fears are less talked about due to more upbeat/silly personality

Broken Promises- any fic featuring Dan Feng's very justified attachment issues is instantly worth reading

Face the Blackened Sky- very very good Blade characterisation. Lots of it

A Stellar Valentine- this is admittedly mostly Stelle/Firefly but it's my favourite Stellaron Hunters fluff and Dan Heng is there so I can still recommend it

in a dim abyss devoid of light, a new dawn begins- pre-Express Dan Heng trying to figure things out

Bonus:

A Dazzling Sidequest to Taco Bell- very little to do with Dan Heng but this is the most wonderful crackfic I have ever read. just. incredibly silly

what happened to the font size? no clue it's fine I can't be bothered to fix it

[live-laugh-legolas]

I was reading this post by @just-a-little-cellist and I was inspired to do something similar but with the fellowship

I’ve done a few more specific mental health hc’s but this is just their general relationship with mental health as opposed to how they handle others with something specific if that makes sense

Also I’m not trying to diagnose any characters; you shouldn’t make assumptions about others, these are just my hcs for some version of the characters, whether canon or not, we will never know

The Fellowship and mental health

Aragorn:

-He is very knowledgeable about different mental health disorders

-Very quick to pick up on it

-I don’t imagine him having any personal experience with any of it though

-I could imagine him having ADHD as a kid and although it doesn’t just go away he has learned to mask it incredibly well

-He has mixed thoughts on medication; he’s not against it but he personally won’t take anything

Legolas:

-I think elves are a split bunch

-Their knowledge of mental health is scattered

-Elves are not shy with feelings but I don’t imagine them having many problems when not in a time of grief

-And I think Legolas was especially sheltered from any mental health discussions

-Maybe the woodland elves are less open to the idea since I think Elrond knows everything about mental disorders

-A cultural difference I suppose

-He loves learning though so he will ask lots of questions

Gimli:

-Dwarves are not strangers to troubled mental health

-They are openly emotional and expressive

-But they don’t put names to it; the idea of disorders is not in their nature

-Like they will openly discuss having trouble but don’t tell them they have depression or something

Boromir:

-I could totally see him having anxiety that he’s learned to suppress because his father is a dickhead

-He knows about the more common disorders and is very supportive

-He doesn’t always understand and sometimes he accidentally comes across as dismissive

-I’ve mentioned before that I kinda picture him to be similar to Arthur from BBC’s Merlin (but when he learns to be a bit nicer lol)

-He’s trying his best; he needs a little patience to learn is all

Frodo:

-He reads a lot so I don’t think he’s any stranger

-I think PTSD from the events in LOTR is the first time personally experiencing neurodivergence though

-Bilbo’s definitely got a pinch of something but I couldn’t tell you what

-So he doesn’t really question anyone; he’s kinda like “well, if I meet someone quirkier than my uncle it will be a wondrous day”

Sam:

-I think he’s pretty naive to mental disorders

-Not because he doesn’t want to learn; but he just doesn’t know better

-He may be a bit judgmental at first

-Like I could imagine him making a comment like “what’s up with them?” kind of thing

-But he truly doesn’t mean to be offensive

-He doesn’t branch out much from the people and things he knows so anything new is strange

-But he will be so supportive and will never live down his own regret for saying something even slightly offensive

Merry:

-He knows every disorder, every sign and symptom, and everything to actually have the disorder

-Like this guy has read every version of the DSM

-He finds it fascinating how people’s brains work so differently

-He totally thinks he can diagnose people though; which isn’t great Merry

Pippin:

-Literally doesn’t care

-And I mean he doesn’t judge and it doesn’t change how he thinks of someone

-It’s just kinda like “yeah they do that sometimes; it’s part of their charm”

-Will stim with someone absentmindedly; he is just inherently a copy cat

Gandalf:

-Obviously he knows all the shit and doesn’t discriminate against anyone

-Violently protective if someone makes an inconsiderate, presumptuous, or offensive comment

-Gives kind advice if someone is struggling; but he won’t be overbearing or draw a lot of attention to it

-Ik for some people it is part of their identity and he respects that, but he isn’t going to make jokes or anything (like example: a majority of my friends, which isn’t a lot tbh, are autistic and I joke with them that clearly I have ✨a type✨)

———————————————————————

I personally have my own struggles and experience with my own mental health but I am not the most educated despite this. I know my own diagnoses pretty well but it’s only a small amount compared to the vast number of different disorders.

If anything in here is written in a way that is offensive please let me know; I try my best but it’s entirely possible I am blinded to certain things

Anyway love everyone and I hope you all are doing well :)

[yourlocaltiredartist]

ok gonna post my thoughts on ch4 after the trailer (this got really long so under a read more it goes)

so! in the screenshots, we can see that its almost definitely gonna take place in the church. stained glass, the flooring, the darkners etc. we know ralsei is in the party for at least some of this dark world from the jockington screenshot from the steam page, but he must get separated at some point, because in the footage of susie and kris in the trailer he isn't present.

so what's happening in that trailer footage? first we see kris and susie falling after breaking some glass, and clinging to the walls to stay up. then, we see them running over a stained glass floor, with little balls of darkness breaking it behind them. both these clips seem to be from the same area, and the same event that's taking place, so it seems like at some point when you're running across the stained glass, all of it breaks and drops you into the climbing segment shown beforehand.

what about those darkness balls though? well, to me they reminded me a lot of the smoke that fills the room when kris makes a fountain - its made up of round ball-like shapes. the difference here is that they're coming from below, and seem more personified. that, plus the fact that the dark world seems to be falling apart, makes me think someone made a dark fountain in the church dark world.

this brings me to their colour palettes. theyre obviously very weird here, but notice how they get more and more off the deeper kris and susie seem to fall - in the climbing segment they are very off but its less noticeable when theyre running across the glass. this makes me more sure another fountain had been opened, and that kris and susie are trying to escape as its forming - perhaps when we inevitably end up in a nested dark world like this, the colours will be similar or even more pronounced.

but who made the fountain? well, I dont think its kris or susie - theres possible motives, sure, but they seem to be trying to escape and get out, which makes it unlikely they caused this themselves unless they had some really bad misinformation. and how does ralsei factor into this? why isn't he with them?

well, since this dark world is falling apart, its safe to assume this takes place near the end of this segment, and kris and susie either make it out or fall into the nested dark world. meaning ralsei must have separated beforehand. this is the church dark world, so we're definitely going to learn more about not only their religion but also probably the prophecy, or at least something related to it, as its heavily tied to the religion aspect and even uses the same symbol (seen on the stained glass kris and susie run across). kris and susie already have very conflicting views on this subject compared to ralsei, and susie is left in the dark (pun unintended) about a LOT, seemingly intentionally on ralsei's part. when new info eventually comes to light, its very likely to be something ralsei already knew about to some degree and has very different opinions on, which could easily lead to the party splitting, and the mage leaving as has been foreshadowed. this would then likely lead into the fountain creation, or whatever caused the dark world to start falling apart.

then how does Noelle tie into this? because we see her in the teasers and it looks like her house - why would there be a bunch of Christmas stuff in the church? theres also just the question of why they would be poking around in the church. that would make sense after going to a church dark world, but presumably it wouldn't be intact enough for this to take place after. so I personally think this is her house. but why are they there?

tbh I dont really know, but what we do know is that Noelle can very easily replace ralsei in battles as the mage and healer. and if ralsei leaves, Noelle will probably end up taking his place. perhaps kris and susie make it out and go to Noelle for help? not sure why that would lead to them poking around her house, but we could learn anything in the church, not just religious/prophecy stuff, and Noelle already has so many angel connections...

this would make things interesting for a weird route, then, because if Noelle doesn't play a major role until the end of the chapter, that would mean things would probably progress pretty similarly until that point. but noelle absolutely wouldn't be willing to work with you, she'd rather work against you. would you end up with just susie? does she end up talking to susie and you end up alone? im just spitballing at this point but the implications are very interesting.

one last thing - im guessing the jockington room is something to do with predictions. the text is writing in future tense and seems to be foretelling he'll grow a beard. wonder if you might be able to see some other interesting predictions there?

[kennymcchronicle]

14, 15, 16, and 29 please!

I know it's a lot to ask, but if you could do it for Lotta and her brother that would he awesome! I'm greedy for content! ☆☆☆

IT'S OKAY I LOVE TALKING ABOUT MY OCS!!!! THANK U SO MUCH FOR THE ASK!!!!!!

14) What are their biggest flaws?

Regarding Lotta, I have answered something similar like this and Number 15 before in another ask game, but basically, Lotta definitely has a few social struggles; Her desire to keep up a mature and rational front naturally separates her a bit from most of her peers at school, and this only gets worse when factoring in how Lotta's attempted logic-first approach to most situations tends to not be helpful in cases where she'd need to be more empathetic or emotional. This is not quite as bad when it's an emotional situation involving a friend or someone she already cares about, but for patients, other students, and adults her "you will have to hear this whether you like it or not" attitude can be less than appropriate. This also makes her kind of bad at handling her own emotions too, she would rather bury those deep under the doctor facade and ignore them entirely, or "deal" with them behind closed doors. By which i mean she tries the - to her - most logical approach, which can and does often fail.

Andy? Wow, well, our boy has a lot of issues. Commitment issues, to start with. Economically and inter-personally. You could easily mistake him for some promiscuous asshole if you didn't know him better. He feels like he can't stay in relationships for too long, turning into him feeling like he can't have any sort of relationship at all. However with this, like with many of his other issues, Andy is completely in denial about it half of the time. He's like what? Come on, it isn't so bad, I'm actually enjoying myself, until he realizes he isn't and then breaks down. He's also prone to rash decisions and can be easily provoked given you know how to push his buttons.

15) What are their biggest strengths?

See above for Lotta, but obviously, it's her medical expertise. If you take everything into consideration, she is an honest to god genius regarding her field. She's crafty too, since someone her age would never be provided with the most accurate of all medical instruments she has to make do, and she does! And also see above, but when she does care about someone, she can give some of the best perspectives and advice due to said logical nature that can often times fail her in this same regard, ironically.

I'd even say Andy is kind of similar in that sense. He doesn't have that lowkey kind of bitter regard for others like Lotta can have, but if he cares about someone he's willing to go to the extremes. Yes, he will help you hide a body. He will drive you across the country no questions asked. He will drunkenly beat up your classmates if he thinks they followed you home to bully you. Ahem. Andy, if he puts his mind to it for once and locks in, can also put projects on their legs with ease. The whole move to America was set in motion by him, and he managed to organize everything perfectly, which if you saw him in his usual state seems impossible! His discography also honestly isn't that bad when he bothers to make beats, and doesn't half-ass them.

16) When it comes to partners/love interests, what is it they look for?

Lotta continuously falls for people with strong moral compasses, particularly the same people who seem to be willing to put actions behind their words as well. Kyle, Jimmy, Wendy and Mysterion all fall under this category. I don't think it's a must for her, to start a relationship, but those are the traits she finds attractive. Trust and Reliability are also very important to her!

Lol... Andy doesn't look for anything to be honest. Anyone is good enough so long as they're down. See above for his commitment issues, anything that seems more serious than a hookup freaks him out and he cuts contact. I suppose this means where a sort of opposite logic can apply, and he could potentially fall in love with people who openly show that they don't give a shit about him, because it gives him security over not disappointing them (because they already think poorly of him)? Who knows!

29) What's a secret about your OC that no one knows about? Something you couldn't quite fit into your story or character sheet.

It used to be her condition. You know, whenever she laughs she bleeds from her nose, if she laughed harder she would even sometimes cough it up. She doesn't like flaunting it around and usually tries her best to keep in check how hard she has to laugh. This is something easily revealed though. Something her peers at South Park really know nothing about is her upbringing in Germany. Where she lived, what school was like, who her friends were. Her extended family in particular is something she wastes no breath over. Nobody ever really asks, and Lotta doesn't talk about it as she thinks nobody really cares anyway and it's kind of boring to begin with. But everything weird or crazy that may or may not have happened over there that she wants to keep to herself is safe with her this way as well.

Andy used to have a best friend named Felix in Elementary School whom Andy thought he was really close with, making it all the more crushing when he realized that as they got older that they were drifting apart. Trying to convince Felix and his new friend group to let him stay around, they eventually settle on having Andy join if he can get them drugs and since Andy was already trying out a lot at this time it seemed like a no-brainer to him and he complied. It took him some time to realize they all thought he was annoying. Him and Felix kissed when they were both high, after which Felix never talked to him again. Andy hasn't told a soul about this, but he thinks about it a lot. He also dreams about him, and cries whenever wakes up. Nevertheless he is completely in denial about being into men romantically, and when called out will claim that he just likes messing around (as he claims often).

[locaiintersex]

anon from before talking about whether locaisex just is intersex. i get the sense you read my message a bit more antagonistically than i intended for it to be. i am aware and was aware when i sent the ask that you are intersex and did not say anything otherwise about this, and i want to clarify again that i actually do like this term and see it as useful.

i think it is a bad plan to respond to exclusionary members of the intersex community by essentially saying “i guess you’re right” and making a new term that includes people who are intersex but being denied their intersex status. i think locaisex could and should coexist with intersex activism that helps deconstruct the “natal intersex” model. most spaces i am in and have been in do not believe in the natal intersex model, and a lot of the major intersex blogs here on tumblr do not as well. the current community is very in favor of “hormonal intersex” variations that have long been excluded by the natal model.

you are not personally going up to people and saying “you’re not intersex,” but defining a lot of intersex experiences as a term created for “things that are not intersex” has the potential to lead intersex people to believing they are not intersex.

me personally, i have an intersex variation not currently officially classified as intersex. by your current post outline, i would be considered locaisex. no intersex person i have talked to has ever disagreed with considering my condition or experiences as intersex, and for years i have attempted to provide education to others focused on teaching them that the condition i have is actually intersex. my inclusion in the intersex community is very important, and i want for locaisex or a similar term to be able to come about and help people find support, but a term like this would actually have hurt me if i came across it when i was younger.

locaisex, in order to serve as a useful term, cannot include people who already are intersex. i understand that you are coming at this from an angle of people in the intersex community cannot agree on what defines an intersex person, so these examples on your list are based on that, and i want for us to perhaps find a way to work around that issue? again, i see a lot of value in locaisex as a concept.

is it possible, in your opinion, that there could be some kind of disclaimer that the line between locaisex and intersex may be somewhat ambiguous? some people may have experiences that lead to them considering themselves intersex or locaisex for the same cause, for instance. something in this nature.

i would prefer to be read in better faith this time around, i am not against you, your concept, or the term itself. i send this criticism because i think this term could actually be very important and its development matters to me. here is one of those emoji things if i want to send another ask 🧡

no you're being entirely fair, I've been being jokerfied by other replies & the reddit thing so i misread your intentions & tone with less faith than warranted. thank you for clarifying & being so kind about my hackles being raised unjustly.

To clarify the intention is not so much to adquise to the natal intersex model as to like - make it so if someone came across the natal intersex model, said "oh i guess im actually technically perisex ):" they could instead be redirected to the term & thus have access to community resources.

[Locaisex] would thus be a politically intersex label (as in, it covers people subject to intersexism, intersexist medical abuse, intersexist policy, ect distinct from what is ascribed to thr perisex experience) which intended to 'catch' anyone who would see the 'natal only' 'biologically' intersex definition, assume this would disinclude them from intersex resources/legal advocacy/social support, and fall through the cracks.

Your criticism is extremely welcome and exactly what i was hoping to get when i created this! The intention is to crowdsource this terms development & definition to make sure folks who might not match the common genological line of thinking aren't left behind. By all means please continue to share your opinions, rewrites, or critique!!

[subtle-pride-wallpaper]

In the interest of pride, I'm going to show off and talk about the flags I post here in order of achronym!

1.) The two lesbian flags...

On the left is the pink lesbian flag, which is aesthetically my favorite lesbian flag, and on the right is the sunset or orange lesbian flag. The pink lesbian flag has some controversy due to its association with the lipstick lesbian flag which is said to have been created by someone who is pretty TERFY and isn't very kind to Butch lesbians. However the pink flag is a distinct flag from the lipstick lesbian flag because the lipstick is not present on the flag and was purposely removed to keep these flags differentiated from each other. The orange lesbian flag was made as an alternative because some people wanted the official lesbian flag to be more inclusive of Butch lesbians and studs so the top half of the flag was taken from the butch lesbian flag and the bottom half is similar to the pink lesbian flag. I like this concept of being inclusive of many different forms of masculinity and femininity however I just really don't like how the colors go together. I can see the aesthetic appeal, however I simply don't feel that it aligns with my preferences.

2.) The gay flags...

On the left is the purple gay men's flag and on the right is the green also known as toothpaste gay mens flag. The purple one on the left was created on Instagram (hence the terrible aspect ratio)and was inspired by the lesbian flags specifically the pink lesbian flag. Because the pink lesbian flag is pink they decided to go the other direction and use blue with a similar variation in colors in order to make the flag book distinct. It's also known as the indigo flag and is less commonly used. However some gay men use this flag as an alternative to the green flag also known as the toothpaste flag and or the Listerine flag. The green flag also known as the toothpaste flag also known as the Listerine flag is one of the most widely known flags specifically for gay men. However it's often falsely identified as the MLM flag also known as the achillean flag which is vastly different. It has Blueish teal stripes one across the top and one across the bottom and a very eggshell blue in the middle, and a green carnation in the center as an emblem similar to the sapphic flag which is shades of pink instead of blue and sports of Violet in the center. the difference is important because the exclusiveness of attraction to one gender and manosexuality can be an important part of someone's identity. There is some controversy around this flag being tone deaf or being made by someone who doesn't "listen to lesbians" however this interaction seems to just be a lesbian person told this person that the colors were similar in design to the orange lesbian flag. My take on the situation is two flags are allowed to look similar that's how you distinguished that they are somehow related especially since lesbian and gay are both monosexual identities that are also homosexual. That makes them particularly related and thus it would make sense if their flags share some homages to each other. It is currently seen as the most accepted gay men's flag.

3.) The bisexual flag...

There is currently only one really accepted bisexual flag and it's this one right here. The pink on the top represents attraction to the same gender and the blue stripe at the bottom represents attraction to other genders, and the purple stripe in the middle represents attraction to those who are in between or the intersection between homosexual and other gender attraction. It's important to remember that the definition of bisexuality is all inclusive of all gender and any mixture of more than one gendered attraction. As stated by the bisexual manifesto before the internet existed. The colors of the flag and where they come from actually is highly disputed no one really knows where they come from. However some assume that this design comes from the biangles symbol which is two of The upside down triangles one of them pink and one of them blue interlocking where the area intersects being a purple. These colors match exactly with the flag, and some people assume that the triangles took inspiration from the flag, however there are mentions of the biangles before the bisexual flag was even introduced. What a mystery.

4.) The trans flag...

The trans flag, also known as the transgender flag or the transsexual/transsex flag is one of the most widely used flags in pride spaces, right next to the progress and rainbow flag. The blue represents trans men, the pink represents trans women, and the white represents those in the process of transitioning, as well as those who don't fit into the category of a man or a woman.

5.) The Nonbinary flag...

The non-binary flag is another commonly used flag in some trends and non-binary spaces. The yellow represents those who are outside of binary categorizations. The white represents the entirety of the diverse gender spectrum. The purple represents those who identify as both or in between male and female. The black represents the people who identify as sexless. I'm not quite sure where this flag comes from but from my research it seems to point to being created here on Tumblr.

6.) The viramoric flag...

Viramoric is defined as: a sexual orientation categorized by the monosexual attraction of a non-binary person to exclusively men. This is a lesser known flag as well as the lesser known label. I think it's important that monosexual non-binary people have language to express their identity without running into discourses or issues or paradoxes. This term and flag was created by a non-binary person here on tumblr. The red represents attraction to men by non-binary people. Because the symbol for Mars also represents maleness. And the planet Mars is red. It's a bit of a stretch to be on this flag, but it does aesthetically look pleasing in relation to the other colors. Red can also be translated as symbolic of love which seems to be more applicable here especially because it's also used in the feminamoric flag because that flag has nothing to do with the attraction to men. So we're going to assume that the meaning was probably intended to be related to attraction in general. The white represents the broad spectrum of non-binary identities as it does in most cases on trans or non-binary related flags. The blue represents men the people that they're attracted to. And the green represents non-binary people in a more special way, because green is considered a primary color in some situations that is outside of the binary colors pink and blue and or red and blue. Green is a good neutral color to represent non-binary people as well as yellow in some situations. This is because they're outside of red and blue and or pink and blue as a third primary color. The two stripes of white as opposed to the one stripe of white is helpful to the balancing of the flag and separation of the three colors as if the three colors are more of three principles and the white just helps outline them.

7.) The feminamoric flag...

Feminamoric is similar to viramoric in that it is a monosexual attraction of non-binary people to exclusively one gender. However, in this case the subject of Attraction is women not men. We assume that in this case the meetings are all the same except for the red which is the reason why I assume that it is not representative of Mars in this case and is instead representative of Attraction lust or love.

8.) The rainbow flag

The rainbow flag is synonymous with the entire LGBT community, it used to be representative more of a gay men however now that every identity has its own flag now it felt appropriate to many people that gay men have their own flag as well, and do not have to share their one symbol with the entire community. This is why gay men flags exist now. The rainbow flag has been The shining image of the entire community for many years now it's a staple. It was adapted from the Gilbert Baker flag which initially had a cyan and indigo stripe, and a violet stripe at the top. Violet could also be interpreted as pink, however it was often a shade of violet not purely pink which is a lighter shade of red. Overtime due to pricing issues factory issues and because the first Gilbert Baker flag was hand stitched, the flag had to drop some of those colors so it merged the indigo and cyan and it took out the pink/violet. I don't find myself posting this one very often because it's hard to make rainbows looks subtle, and these are mainly meant for those who are trying to enjoy pride but don't have the luxury of being out and proud.

9.) Why no progress pride flag?

Something you may notice as you scroll through my post is that there's a lack of the progress pride flag, the reason for this is I just really don't like it. The extra colors and the bevel are distracting and cluttering. From a design standpoint especially a flag design standpoint it just does not work. I feel it's also not easy to manufacture or produce or use when you're making independent art or custom merch that you make at home. It's just not very easy to work with, and I really don't like how it looks at all. I've already used the max number of images in this post so I'm not going to add it here, plus I really don't like looking at it because it is a bit overstimulating so I'm not going to post it anyways.

10.) you may see me post from time to time

If I get high requests from anyone to post flags such as the trixic, toric, sapphic, achillean, same gender attraction, blue gay flag, bear flag, twink flag, Butch lesbian flag, lipstick lesbian flag (from a historical standpoint using it for actual lipstick lesbians, not terfs), the Gilbert Baker flag, the trans man and trans woman flag, most symbols, and the HIV/AIDS recognition pride flag, I will I am only not posting them because I already post a diverse range of flags and figured my bases are pretty much covered. I might add these now and then when I feel as if one of my designs is especially compatible to them, however I would be more interested in adding these to my regular posting collection if I get suggestions to do so. It is just a lot of work making all of these designs over and over and over again, and it's more work trying to post them one by one and use all the tags so that they'll be seen. Just let me know. If you would like to see me post them ask and I'll make a separate post displaying these flags to be seen.

[rayless-reblogs]

Tifa for the character ask!

Oh, definitely!

How I feel about this character. Tifa's been a dark horse for me. When I was younger, I liked her well enough, but I was much more focused on Aerith. More recently, though, I'm very intrigued by how she handles herself through much of the game. She, alone in the cast, realizes something is deeply wrong with reality as Cloud's telling it. She doesn't know the full extent of everything that's happened, but she knows there are falsehoods and misconceptions. And she -- doesn't say anything. She decides to watch and wait. But it doesn't come across as passive or irresponsible to me. Tifa reads as very strong, like a flexible tree that's bending and swaying in a powerful wind, but never breaking. She's caring, attentive, and protective without feeling like she loses her identity as a flat "maternal" character, nor does she feel like a secondary love interest -- either to Aerith or to Cloud as the protagonist. Her view of the world is very separate from Cloud's and the other party members', and I think that helps her stand as an individual. I also like that the remakes are revealing more about her anger, especially towards Shinra -- it not only fleshes her out, it makes her involvement with AVALANCHE more interesting and realistic.

So these days I like her a lot. A quiet character, a strong character, a warm but not overly intrusive or tropey character. She gives you a lot to think about.

All the people I ship romantically with this character. I don't have any OTPs when it comes to Tifa. I like the CloTi ship, but I'm not passionate about it. I think Rude's interest is cute and endearing, but I'd need to see more from Tifa's side of things to know what I'd think of it. I think the ship I'd be most interested to see is BarretxTifa. I hadn't really considered it in the past, maybe because of the age gap and Cloud standing right there, but when it comes to shared passions and history and a demonstrable ability to respect each other and work together, it makes sense. Tifa's level-headedness could be a good contrast to Barret's more fiery personality. Plus, I think they'd be really cute being domestic together.

My unpopular opinion about this character. I'm not sure how to articulate this, or if I even have a pat opinion to put forth, but I think the remakes are a bit... overzealous (?) in trying to equalize Tifa's and Aerith's positions as potential love interests for Cloud. Not that I doubt he loves either of them. I feel like they're trying to make the relationships too similar. Specifically, I think they're trying to make Tifa gain some ground on Aerith in the first half of the story. Aerith holds Cloud's hand while he's having memory issues, and then later Tifa does the same thing. There's the threat of Aerith being stabbed from behind by Sephiroth and then Cloud has a vision of Tifa being stabbed from behind by Sephiroth. Cloud is tempted by Sephiroth to kill Aerith, and what do you know, Cloud is also tempted by Sephiroth to kill Tifa. I wonder if the writers feel there's too strong of an Aerith bias at the beginning, so they're trying to bring Tifa more to the fore earlier in the game. But the latter sections of the game are where Tifa really shines, and it feels like with their current strategy, they're making Tifa's and Cloud's relationship less distinct, less unique to them.

It doesn't make me mad, but I think it's a little questionable and I want more for her.

One thing I wish would happen/had happened with this character in canon. Hm, I don't know. I'm not sure if I'm hoping specifically for something in the remakes. Looking at the original game, maybe it would have been good if Tifa had interacted with Sephiroth herself? He destroyed her hometown, killed her family, nearly killed her. She always lets Cloud take the lead in these interactions (which makes sense from one perspective), but she could have gotten some words in. It's past time he heard what she thinks of him.

Thanks for the prompt! It was fun delving into my thoughts about her.

[honestlyvan]

id be really interested to see you talk about the dynamic btwn Haseo and Ovan + how it changes over time, love ur dothack thoughts so far

(Now on DW!)

I had to take a vigorous walk around the block and a shower before I could sit down to write this, lmao.

God, nonny, they are So Much. An unbelievable amount, even.

To step back from the mythical framing for a little bit and to just look at them as people, one of the things that makes me bark like a dog the worst is how all of the Epitaph are all circling and struggling with the similar kinds of of identity issues -- presumably being the reason the Epitaphs attached themselves to them, there's no room in the mind of people who are too secure in who they are to carry the duties of a Phase with them.

Each of the Epitaphs represent the temptation to fall into a variety of self-protective but futile failure modes that let you define yourself on your own terms but ultimately limit growth, and while I have thoughts about all of the Epitaph users and how they interact with each other, I definitely think Haseo and Ovan get the version of it that is the most brutal in its compatibility.

For Haseo, Skeith represents a temptation to do as thou wilst, to eschew a communal and social identity in favour of only exclusively defining himself -- which is, incidentally, how Ovan comes across initially. You could not find a guy who moves through the world with more assurance and less need to explain himself. Ovan appears to have a kind of singularity of identity that nobody else can get a word in edgewise -- and Haseo, who spends a lot of time feeling off and unsure and wordlessly anxious about having lost sight of who he is, that's like the holy grail.

Of course, the reason Ovan is so singular in his identity is because his sense of self is practically transparent and he exists almost exclusively as the life-support system for a machine that makes Aina happy. From the start, there's no way for Ovan to recognise Haseo the way he wants to be recognised because Ovan barely knows who he is, let alone what Haseo sees in him that is so admirable because Ovan is just reflecting back the thing Haseo wants to see in himself.

Because in contrast to the fundamental mistake in Haseo's thinking, Ovan is very clear-eyed about what Haseo is like. That's one of the core paradoxes of his character, he's very good at reading other people and completely oblivious to how they read him back. He's great at anticipating and manipulating people's behaviour, but is critically disconnected about how he should feel about the way other people feel about him. Haseo needs to see him as something to chase and grow into? Okay, if that's what he needs to be, it's as simple as that. The terms of their relationship are set forever now.

So, in a way, as much as Ovan's plan relies on Haseo growing as a person, as much as he frames it in those terms, what he actually needs is for Haseo to stay exactly the same. Stay exactly on the terms that Ovan needs him to stay on for his plan to succeed. Ovan can never let Haseo reach him because that would change the terms of their relationship, and make him truly unmanageable.

Which, really, is just how Ovan deals with everything in his life. He keeps it all at a distance, because he doesn't really have a sense of self to let people close to, except in the sense that he knows everything that has happened to cause this situation has been done by him, and that the only way to set it right is to find a way to cross himself out again. And if he has to let Haseo catch up to him, it's explicitly so Haseo can be his executioner, and help him rectify the mistake of existing in the world in the first place. Corbenik, the meaning of life and death, can only exist in the void.

And tbh, if Ovan's plans had actually worked out on the timetable he intended them to work out on, I think Haseo may have been fulfilled by that. From the start, he sees himself as the aspirant to Ovan's paragon, wants to reach him through his own effort, to exist in the world the same way he thinks Ovan does.

However, the rest of Haseo's arc is learning that none of us exist in the world alone. That we are defined by the experiences we have with other people. If he reaches Ovan and Ovan is no longer there, what does it still matter to have reached him?

[practically-an-x-man]

Whump question time!

Your OCs have all been kidnapped! What method of whumping them (i.e. forms of torture, psychological manipulation, etc) would be most likely to break them?

Ooooooh good one!!! Thank you so much!!

And... I've included a little bonus to this, as well ;)

Rae: Drugs or hypnosis, for sure - she's got a phobia of having her mind altered in any way, so it wouldn't even take some particularly intense whumping to break her with this. [scale to which I've done this: 6/10 - have whumped her like this, but haven't pushed it to its limits]

Robin: Getting her loved ones involved, for sure. There's actually a scene with this in Symphony in Silver, where Robin, Peter, Sean, and Hank are all captured and held in the same cell (though out of reach from one another), and it definitely comes close to breaking her. Push things just a little further and she'll break, and in a very painful way. [scale to which I've done this: 8/10 - have whumped her like this, as I said, but still has a happy ending]

Madison: Temperature manipulation, especially freezing. Her mutation makes her more resilient to extreme temperatures, though that also means she'd have to endure it for a lot longer before losing consciousness - better for overall survival, but definitely grounds for breaking her. [scale to which I've done this: 9/10 - there's a very similar situation in Smoke and Mirrors, extending across multiple chapters with heavy whump, and with some lingering effects on Madison]

Ophelia: Impossible puzzles. Place her in a situation she can conceivably get out of? She's fine. Place her in a situation with no plausible escape? Less fine, but still able to rationalize. But place her in a situation where escape seems possible, but ends up being an endless futile loop? Now that would break her. She wouldn't be able to stop herself from trying, even after she's realized it's all a game, and she'd work herself to physical and mental exhaustion because she'd insist on there being some chance for escape. [scale to which I've done this: 3/10 - haven't done this situation before, though now that I write it out it intrigues me]

Gia: Physical experimentation. HYDRA was the worst experience of her life, and it did break her. Put her back there, or somewhere similar, and she'd break again. [scale to which I've done this: 10/10 - literally part of her canon, affects her entire character irreparably]

Jasper: Isolation. Jasper's empathic sense means that they're always in contact with the people around them in some way, even if no physical or verbal interaction is being held. But keep them completely isolated, even to the point that their "emotional radar" is out of range (and find some way to get rid of their link with Kyle, since that's not reliant on distance), and the sheer lack of interpersonal connection would break them. [scale to which I've done this: 2/10 - sounds intriguing, but would be a complicated situation to set up and I haven't tried it before]

Katherine: Overwhelmed with magic. Even her own magic would do the trick - because it's not really her own magic at all, she's just a conduit to it. But place her in a situation where her only conceivable solution is to use magic, force her to push past her every limitation, and it would break her both physically and mentally. [scale to which I've done this: 9.5/10 - this is effectively the climax of her fic, and it does have some long-term consequences that I haven't fully gotten to in the main story yet]

Kestrel: Loss of identity. This could come from a few different means (magic, sensory deprivation, psychological manipulation), but in any sense it really is Kestrel's biggest weakness. Their identity is a very vulnerable thing... and grounds for some GREAT whump! [scale to which I've done this: 11/10 - I've written this so many times, don't even get me started]

Quinn: Public shaming/some sort of social voyeurism. Quinn has been through a lot of pain in her life, and they're such a resilient little shit that mental torment wouldn't do too much either. But her weak point often is her self-image, especially when it comes to gender dysphoria and her disabilities, so placing her in some position that makes her physically vulnerable or exposed in front of other people would break her. We're talking some modern equivalent to the stockade or gibbet, where it's the combination of physical strain and public scrutiny. [scale to which I've done this: 1/10 - it would break her in theory, but I'm not very interested in putting this together as a fic]

Eris: Emotional leverage. Eris does not care about any physical or mental torture to their own self, and there's a very short list of people they'd care enough about to be used as leverage. But put Rick in there, use his health as blackmail, and Eris will break - especially if it ends up not mattering in the end, and they have to deal with both the manipulation and the grief that follows. [scale to which I've done this: 9.5/10 - this is the exact premise of a fic I have sitting in my Eris doc, the only reason it doesn't get full marks is because I haven't written it yet]

Nikoletta: Sensory deprivation/touch-starvation. I'd argue that dealing with her shadow-touch for so long did break her - it wasn't one outward snap, but it did permanently change her as a person - and we could probably get her to that full snap by bringing her back to that after she's gotten used to physical touch again. The only thing more painful than not having something is to have it and then lose it again, amiright? [scale to which I've done this: 7/10 - her being touch-starved is a big part of her story, but I haven't pushed her all the way to her limits yet]

Jimmy: Emotional manipulation/confrontation. Jimmy is, by nature, a very friendly, easygoing, and non-confrontational guy. He really, really hates conflict. And while being outcast as a ghost for so long definitely plays a role on his emotional state, what would really break him would be to be forced into an outburst (especially physical) that he'd regret. [scale to which I've done this: 4/10 - the closest would be him affected by Garraka, but even then he's more catatonic than outwardly confrontational... though I do have an idea floating around in my Jimmy doc that plays with this concept]

Vivienne: Revisiting of trauma. Vivienne's first husband caused a lot more lingering trauma that she even realizes, especially with the way it hides behind its power and persona as a siren. To place it back in a situation where she's hurt by someone she loves and trusts... that would break her - and it would place her so far back into that memory and vulnerable emotional state that she wouldn't even consider her new strengths as a siren. [scale to which I've done this: 3/10 - could make for some damn good whump and I'm intrigued, but I haven't written this before]

Spider: Deafening. He processes his whole world through sound - it's his biggest passion, his career depends on it, he's built effectively his whole life around it. Losing his sense of hearing would have a profound shift on almost everything in his life, and it would break him (hell, even to take it a step further and have it be something that affects the inner ear as well, so he can't balance and therefore can't climb either...) [scale to which I've done this: 3/10 - haven't done it, and it seems super harsh, but I can't say I'm not intrigued]

Terra: I was going to say grief, but... honestly, whatever the hell I've got going on with Pluto would do it. It's not only grief, but this long decay of emotion as you realize the person you love isn't the same anymore, before finally being faced with the bombshell that they won't come back... yeah. [scale to which I've done this: 9/10 - done it, pretty much encapsulates everything I've written for Terra so far, the only way I could make this more painful would be to have Cait and Vi affected as well as Pluto]

Pluto: Powerlessness. This would be very similar to Ophelia's whump - place him in a situation where he thinks he might be able to fix it, when really he can't, and that would break him. It's not dissimilar to his gradual loss of sight/functionality in his main story, though the whump would be a bit more hands-on if I wrote it. [scale to which I've done this: 8/10 - like I said, him losing his sight was similar and very devastating, but I could go further]

Indigo: Reconditioning babyyyy!! I really only included her so I could mention this, because boy do I still love that premise for her. Torment was whumpy enough, but I could have gone even further with it if I wanted to, and had that partial reconditioning be permanent instead. Or hell, even push the reconditioning itself a little further, so she doesn't have those few points of independence and familiarity to rely on like she does in Torment. Or to have Armitage be the one affected by it instead, and place her on the other side of the scales - that would be painful on a different level, since she's always seen him as so poised and confident and reconditioning would take that from him, on top of whatever tricky emotions would come from the memory loss since he had to work through a lot of stuff before being with her... oooooh man I'm cooking with this. [scale to which I've done this: 11/10 - I love this concept, it's devastating, I could easily write a new fic that takes things even further than I've already done]

[intersex-questions]

Hi, I wanted to know if you have any insight for a character I'm workshopping? I plan for him to get his powers from a sort of hormone stimulant that's supposed to give him your run-of-the-mill generic superstrength, but instead, because he happens to be intersex, it affects him differently.

The thing is, I'm no biologist. I considered not explaining it, but I don't want to perpetuate the idea that intersex is something "Mystical" or some form of plot-convenience.

I genuinely just want to write an intersex superhero, and I'd appreciate any perspective you might have on that, especially in regards to his powers.

(He's an intersex trans man if this helps)

Thank you so, so much

Sorry for taking so long to reply, thank you for waiting.

I think it's an interesting concept, but definitely something you should be very careful with (and I'm glad you're aware of that)!

First off, since you mention not wanting to have him come across as "mystical" (which I think is a very fair concern), some things you can do to mitigate this are

have other intersex characters in the same world and/or

have other characters with "similar" things also be linked to their powers (like having a character whose powers are contingent on them being transgender, somehow)

It makes him feel less like an outlier and the intersex status as something that only exists for powers but rather a fact of the world he is in that facts of life like being intersex or trans+ can intersect with superpowers. That's just the first ideas that come to MY mind though. People from any marginalized communities often are very split on portrayals sometimes like this, where some love to see a character whose identity contingency relates to something cool like superpowers, whereas others want to see characters who just exist and might feel like the only reason someone is writing a character with said identity contingency is in order to use them for something like superpowers. Unfortunately, you cannot ever please everyone with a character, and it is even harder to do so with characters of marginalized statuses, as people nitpick them even more. What you are doing is the right thing--being conscientious and asking for advice on how to avoid or mitigate problems in character portrayal.

On a worldbuilding level, I'd try to address things like

why does it affect him differently because he's intersex? how does it work differently? in what ways does it interact with his intersex variation?

what other people might be affected by this? is it only some intersex variations? (which I think makes the most sense, as it avoids it feeling like intersex people are like, "inherently different/special/mystical", and also just makes more "sense" biologically, although yes, it's still superpowers.) are there maybe other conditions that could have caused it for some other people, like hormonal problems that aren't necessarily an intersex variation?

I definitely think you need to explain it on some level, otherwise it does come across in that more negative "mystical" way you mention, and it doesn't make sense in a way that might be hard to suspend disbelief for. And the superpower stuff doesn't have to necessarily make sense--I'd just make sure that the intersex variation your character has is grounded in reality and be accurate in portraying that. You can make up whatever BS for superpowers though, in my opinion, since they're superpowers! How it engages with a body doesn't have to necessarily make that much sense, like how it doesn't really make any sense for someone to get superpowers from a radioactive spider, but the lore DOES explain that it just does transfer it to him, and it just Works because it Does.

I hope that gives you some feedback or ideas to go off of. If you have more questions let me know!

[culttvblog]

Ann Way Season: Introduction and Mind Your Language - Don't Forget the Driver

I so enjoyed doing a 'season' of posts focusing on the work of actor Denis Shaw that I've decided to do another similar series of posts focusing on another actor, this time Ann Way (1915 - 1993). Surely everyone recognises her by her characteristic appearance and usually being cast in the role of dotty old lady. Unfortunately biographical details are vanishingly few online for her; to the extent that I haven't even been able to find an obituary for her. However she acted more or less consistently until the very last year of her life. I am delighted to see from IMDb that her first role was as a sixth former in The Belles of St Trinians, 1954!

When I did the posts on Denis Shaw I found that doing that exposed me to shows that I wouldn't otherwise have thought to watch, which was interesting. Ann Way's opus isn't different and already I have episodes of a couple of shows that I haven't seen saved up ready to blog about.

I also have the same regret that I had with Shaw's work which is that Way's early work coincided with the heyday of wiping TV shows in Britain so much of it is unavailable. For example she had a role in several episodes of Emergency Ward 10 which may or may not exist but are not online. She also had a role in one episode of a show which I have only recently discovered existed, Harpers West One, which was a show set in a department store in London, and which is definitely completely wiped. It was also broadcast in 1962 so it's not likely that someone has an episode on a video in their attic. Another show she acted in that i would dearly love to see which is missing believed wiped is King of the River, 1966-7, about a family barge business.

There is a further problem that some of her work is commercially available but is so expensive that I'm not in a position to buy it for one episode. For example Way acted in an episode of Dr Finlay's Casebook where Dr Cameron comes across a solitary piper who believes himself to be amongst a full battalion, which I would give my back teeth to see. However I won't part with the money to buy two fulls series of the show which would be necessary to see one episode!

The final problem with Way's work is that some of it is in shows which I wouldn't consider cult. I have rather avoided giving a definition for cult however I work on the assumption in my head that it is what I like. A characteristic of cults is they have a charismatic leader and I am the leader of the cult so this makes perfect sense. Even though Crossroads is a legendary TV series I just don't think it's weird enough to appear here. Similarly Last of the Summer Wine is a series which I just wouldn't call cult.

Mind Your Language: Don't Forget the Driver

The hugely popular series Mind Your Language is in my opinion a show which definitely wouldn't count as cult. Although other people seem to love it so probably would consider it cult. It broadcast across three series in 1977 to 9, with a further series in 1985 or 6. It is essentially a sitcom set in an English learning class in a college of further education, taught by the much-loved actor Barry Evans, who I've actually been considering as a possible for a series of his own.

Don't Forget the Driver is about the class having an outing on a Sunday to a stately home. Or in fact it is more about the organisational vicissitudes ot actually getting there, because by the time they get there the house has actually closed for the day. Way's role is confined to a short appearance as the history teacher in the college, whose job it has been to organise the coaches but for one reason or another, only one has been arranged. She comes across as her normal wonderfully dotty persona.

I wasn't entertained by this episode and in fact didn't laugh once. Out of a less than half hour run the first eight or nine minutes are confined to the students showing how bad they are at English, and there's another bit of that later on when they run out of petrol. It just isn't funny, to my mind. So you may wonder why the show is still appearing here and the answer is in the photograph which illustrates this post. Ann Way is in the centre of the picture. But the two men on the right have brough back a memory of those HUGE tins of beer which you used to be able to get but which I haven't seen for decades. They might not be very good at English but have plugged straight into the great British tradition of getting blind drunk on coach trips.

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